


Dinner At Blight Manor

by TheFoolsYouSee



Series: After Blood And Souls [2]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:08:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27302446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFoolsYouSee/pseuds/TheFoolsYouSee
Summary: Amity just wants to find the perfect way to confess her feelings to Luz, but a mysterious creature keeps foiling her plans. And when Luz is invited to dinner with the Blight family, the human must figure out how to deal with Amity's inscrutable parents.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Series: After Blood And Souls [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967302
Comments: 54
Kudos: 160





	1. Chapter 1

Luz looked from the paper in her hand up to the woodland path in front of her. The map that Amity had left was detailed but still clear; it looked like she’d spent a lot of time working on it. The human girl smiled to herself at the thought of the green-haired witchling stuck in her room with her broken leg, scribbling away at her desk. Luz put her finger on the dotted line she was following, took the turning that supposedly led to the little image of Amity’s face and looked up.

In front of her was a lake, glowing gold in the setting sun with trees lining the edge all around. The map had led to a small clearing by the bank, and a picnic blanket covered in carefully arranged plates and pots was laid out on the grass a short distance away. A few lanterns were scattered around the clearing, their glow starting to show as the evening light dimmed.

Amity was sat by the blanket, dressed in her long black top and purple leggings. She smiled nervously up at Luz and got to her feet.

"Hi," she said shyly.

"Hey, Amity!" Luz approached and picked her up in a big hug. Amity squealed in surprise but then started to laugh as Luz put her down. "I didn’t see you at school today," the human commented with a frown.

"Yeah, I had the whole day off to get my cast removed but they fit me in really early so…" The green-haired girl gestured to the picnic blanket. "…I decided to make the most of it."

"It looks so good!" Luz’s mouth started to water at the sight of the most edible-looking array of fruits and meats she’d seen since arriving on the Boiling Isles. "Are the others coming?"

"No, I thought it could just be you and me," Amity said, not quite meeting Luz’s eyes for a moment. Then she took the human's arm, pulling her down to sit by the blanket too. "Besides, you have so much to tell me! I heard you cut off the Emperor’s head or something?"

As they ate the picnic Luz happily went through the whole story of trying to steal the Healing Hat from Belos' castle, being captured by Lilith, Eda rescuing her and becoming trapped as the Owl Beast, breaking into the Conformatorium to rescue her mentor and facing down the Emperor. Amity gave shocked gasps in all the right places and wiped away a tear when Luz got to the part about Lilith taking on Eda’s curse. By the time the story was finished, the sun had set and the golden lanterns had attracted small, shining insects to swirl around them.

"But Luz, the portal!" Amity put her hand on the other girl’s, a sad look in her eye. "Now you can’t go home."

Luz nodded. "I know. But I couldn’t let Eda be turned to stone." She sighed and put on a smile. "I’ll find another way back, I know it. Until then, you’re stuck with me."

Amity matched Luz’s smile at the sound of such positive determination. Then the witchling glanced down at her hand and quickly pulled it back from the human's, blushing slightly.

"I suppose that answers one thing…" she said quietly.

"What thing?" Luz asked.

Amity looked up at her again and took a deep breath. "Even before I heard what happened, I was planning this." She gestured to the now-empty dishes on the blanket. "There wasn’t much to do, what with my leg, and I started thinking about everything we’ve done together and…"

She trailed off, her brow furrowing. Luz saw followed the other girl’s gaze over her shoulder to look back into the woods.

"What is it?" she asked as she turned back.

"Nothing, I thought I saw…" Amity shook herself and laughed. "Sorry, I guess I’m just a bit nervous. Anyway, you and I have been friends for – LUZ WATCH OUT!"

Amity suddenly pushed Luz down to the ground as a tree trunk flew over their heads and landed in the lake with a mighty splash. They both looked up to where it had come from and saw a huge, dark shape moving in the trees. There was a great crunching sound, and the two girls dived to the side as a second tree rolled across the clearing and over the picnic blanket, leaving shattered pieces of plates and lanterns behind. They sprang to their feet and squinted around at the now-dark clearing. Amity drew a glowing circle in the air with her finger and a ball of green flame appeared floating above her cupped hands. She looked at Luz, who was still peering blearily around.

"Haven’t you got any glyphs with you?" Amity asked.

"I kinda used a lot of them up earlier today," Luz said sheepishly. "Guess I didn’t get to that bit."

There was a roar from the trees, and Amity took a handful of her flame and hurled it towards the noise. As it shot by, the small fireball briefly illuminated the torso of a hulking humanoid shape stomping towards them.

Luz glanced at the demolished picnic blanket. "Wait, I know!" she cried, and ran towards it.

"Luz, no! Stay behind me!" Amity yelled. But the creature was heading towards the witchling so she started side-stepping away, drawing it further from the blanket. The giant figure followed her, its head still too high for the light from her flame to illuminate.

Luz felt around amongst the picnic debris until she found a big enough piece of crockery, and dipped her hand into the pool of spilled sauce she had spotted. She wiped her fingers over the broken plate in her other hand, painting a fire glyph onto it. She aimed it at the huge figure backing Amity up against a tree and slapped her hand against the crude drawing with a triumphant shout.

But instead of shooting a fireball, the whole broken piece burst into flames. Luz yelped in surprise and flung it like a Frisbee.

The flaming disc embedded itself into the back of the creature, which roared in pain. It twisted around frantically, trying to reach behind to tear the makeshift weapon out, and stumbled away back into the trees.

Luz quickly ran to the edge of the lake to dip her scalded hands in, but slipped on a discarded bread roll and tumbled fully into the water. She spat out a rancid mouthful as she surfaced, and felt Amity’s hands pull her ashore. After the soaking girl had caught her breath, they both listened for the sound of the stomping footsteps – they had gone.

"We’d better get out of here," Luz said, shaking the water from her hair. "Who knows what else comes out at night in these woods?"

Amity was looking through the gloom at the remains of the picnic, and at the torn and broken lanterns.

"...Yeah," she said sadly. "Let’s go."

* * *

The next couple of days were relaxingly uneventful. If she was honest, Luz was a little emotionally exhausted after everything that had happened recently and was glad to be able to focus on her classes. She also had the mystery of ‘EM’, the two letters inscribed on the broken piece of Belos’ mask which, based on how they were laid out, must be the end of a word. But any book she found about Belos in the school or public Bonesborough libraries were extremely sanitised, just repeating the same established facts with different phrasing: he brought peace to the chaotic Boiling Isles 50 years ago and was able to talk to the Titan. Even King’s _Unauthorised History_ wasn’t much help, as most of the pages were made up of grotesque illustrations. The only person Luz knew with enough inside knowledge to possibly give her a clue was Lilith, but Eda had recently parted ways with her sister and Luz felt it would be something of a betrayal to seek her out right now. All she could do was go through every word she knew that ended in ‘-em’, and had run out fairly quickly. Without any more information, she had hit a dead end for now, so she was glad when the weekly after-school Azura Book Club came round again. It was just her and Amity in a classroom talking about their favourite fantasy series and was a piece of, if not normalcy considering the Boiling Isles, then comforting regularity. But when Luz opened the classroom door on the scheduled day, the room was laid out differently than normal.

All the two girls normally did was pick a couple of seats and start geeking out, but today the chairs had been moved to the sides and the tables arranged in a circle around the centre of the room. Amity was stood in the space in the middle looking a little tired, her hands tucked sheepishly into the pockets of her uniform’s tunic.

"Whoa, what’s all this?" Luz asked.

"See if you can guess," Amity smiled.

Luz put a hand to her chin and looked around more closely; on the teacher’s desk at the front was a small griffin statue that normally sat on a plinth by the Plant track homeroom. A long, scaly tube wound around the legs of the ring of tables, painted blue and with a pair of fake eyeballs stuck to one end – at least Luz told herself they were fake.

"So if that’s the Gildersnake," she deduced, "then that means the griffin is Egbert the Careless, which would make the arena-" she gasped in realisation. "The Bog of Immediate Regret!"

Amity gave a pleased nod, rubbing a hand on the back of her neck. "It was kind of a rush job ‘cos I didn’t want to wait until next week. I couldn’t get the right colour snakeskin, and I didn’t have time to finish _that_..."

She gestured self-consciously behind Luz, and when the human turned she saw a large piece of paper stuck to the blackboard. It was a drawing of Luz and Amity, both dressed as Azura and holding hands.

"I was going to do a background, but I could only get the two of us done." Amity kicked her feet shamefacedly, but when Luz turned back the human's eyes were shimmering with tears.

"That is the best picture anyone has ever drawn," she said with a choke in her voice.

Amity blushed. She walked over and took Luz’s hand, pulling her into the circle of desks "This wasn’t how I was originally going to do this," she began, "but it’s kind of like when we had our first duel. I remember being so confused when you mentioned Azura and Hecate, and I never wanted anyone else to know that I liked these books. But it’s been really special to be able to share it with you." Amity looked up gently into Luz’s eyes. "As well as us sharing _Azura_ , you’ve also become-"

SMASH!

One of the classroom windows shattered and they both flinched back, covering their faces from the spray of glass. When the tinkling of glass had stopped, Luz looked over and saw a large piece of masonry had been thrown in, crushing one of the desks.

A familiar roar sounded from outside.

"Wait, _really?"_ Amity frowned and they both went to look out of the window. They heard footsteps stomping away, and Luz could see a chunk had been ripped from the corner of the wall outside. Amity leapt through the window and looked around.

"Can you see it?" Luz asked, warily eyeing the broken glass of the window pane she’d have to clamber over if she needed to go out and help.

Amity shook her head, confused. "It’s gone…" she muttered.

She hopped back inside, but then gasped in horror when she looked at the blackboard. Luz followed her eyes and her heart sank as she saw the paper stuck to it lacerated with glass, ripped in half right across the two figures’ joined hands.

"Oh no, your picture!" she groaned.

But a cold, hard look had come over Amity’s face. "It’s fine," the witchling said through gritted teeth. "Let’s just clear this up."

After she had magicked the outer wall and the window back together and Luz had put the tables and chairs back, they still had some of their allotted time left in the classroom. However Amity had said she needed to get home to "have a conversation with my _siblings"_ , spitting out the last word. Luz had let the furious-looking witchling go and made her way home alone.

* * *

The next day Luz was stood by her locker retrieving a textbook when Edric and Emira Blight hurried up to her.

"Do you know what’s going on with Amity?" Emira asked. The usually more composed of the twins looked far more anxious than Luz had ever seen her before.

"I think she might be getting stalked by something?" Luz replied. "I was going to ask her about it when I saw her today."

"She’s telling us to stop what we’re doing, but we’re not doing anything!" Edric spluttered. "Should I stop doing _everything_? I can’t do that Luz, I’d die!"

"We’ve asked her what she’s talking about but she keeps saying we know what she means," Emira said worriedly. "And she says if it happens again then she’ll-"

Emira suddenly stopped as she spotted something behind Luz, and real fear came into her eyes. She jabbed Edric, who looked up and went even paler than normal. The twins both rushed away back down the corridor.

Luz turned, and flinched back at the sight of Amity stood directly behind her. The green-haired girl was glaring at her and from the heavy shadows under her eyes Luz was pretty sure she hadn’t slept.

" _Right_ ," Amity declared, raising an almost accusing finger at Luz. " _We’re gonna do this_."

"Heyyy…" Luz said nervously. "You, uh, you see that monster again?"

Amity laughed a little manically, her eye twitching. "No, but I’ve figured it out!" She started pacing in front of the lockers. "I stayed up all night trying to plan something else, but then I realised that if Edric and Emira really _aren’t_ doing anything then it’s the _planning_ that summons it! So I’m not going to plan, I’m just going to do it!"

She stopped pacing and put her hands on Luz’s shoulders. The witchling opened her mouth to speak.

Then she whipped her head around to look behind her with a paranoid air. After a pause, Amity slowly moved Luz around so that they had swapped positions, then took a breath and relaxed a little.

"Luz," she began. "Will you – oh, _COME ON_!"

Luz turned at the sound of screaming students coming from behind her, and saw the hulking humanoid shape from the lake charging towards them down the corridor.

"Wait," Luz squinted at it. "Is that…?"

But Amity shoved her out of the way as the creature’s fist slammed down on the spot where they’d been. Luz looked back at the purple, goopy limb.

"It’s an Abomination!" Luz gasped.

It was much larger than any they’d ever made in class, and now that it was fully lit Luz could see that the creature didn’t have a distinct head, only a wide extension of its shoulders shooting up like a squat monolith with no facial features. But the angular ‘head’ still turned to follow them as Luz grabbed Amity's hand and pulled her across the corridor and round a corner. But then Luz was tugged back as her friend stopped.

"Amity, we have to run!" Luz yelled.

"No!" Amity let go of the human’s hand and ran back out in front of the Abomination, pointing a finger up at it. "Wherever you keep coming from, I will NOT let you stop me!"

The Abomination roared, and Amity screamed back as she ran at it, her eyes wild. The giant swung its fist down again and Amity dodged to the side. She drew a wide circle in the air, spun it flat, and flung it at the purple monstrosity - the circle sliced through its torso and its top half started to slide off, but the Abomination grabbed onto its hip and held itself together.

Luz ran out and put her arms around Amity from behind, pulling the struggling witchling away from the fight.

"LUZ, NO!" Amity cried out furiously as she flailed and kicked out. "I’M DOING THIS FOR _YOU_!"

Luz dragged the still-protesting witchling backwards out of the front doors of the school and down the steps into the courtyard. The Abomination followed them out and tumbled forward when it reached the stairs, its top half falling off. The torso started dragging itself forward by the arms, leaving a slimy purple trail behind on the paving.

Amity finally wriggled free of the human’s grip and ran forward, drawing another large circle in front of her. She aimed it right at the crawling torso and fired an ongoing stream of green flame out from inside the ring. The purple substance of the Abomination started to smoke and char, its outreached arm trembling in the air. Amity let out a cathartic shriek and increased the intensity of the flames; the arm fell to the floor with a wet splat, and the Abomination’s form collapsed into a carbon-topped puddle that streamed across the courtyard.

Amity lowered her arms as the flames disappeared, panting. Luz stepped forward but still kept a little distance from the other girl, eyeing her warily. But the witchling’s face flooded with relief when she turned to the human, and broke out into a wide, exhausted smile. She lifted a hand to Luz’s cheek.

"Impressive work, Amity."

The green-haired girl’s smile vanished and her eyes widened in horror at the sound of the voice that had come from behind them. Both girls turned around.

A man and a woman dressed in fine, tasteful robes were stood together watching them. The man was stocky, with thick brown hair and thick, bushy eyebrows. His brown beard was neatly trimmed, and Luz could identify a strong, square jaw underneath; he made her think of a wolf. The golden eyes that he shared with his children were the only part of his appearance that gave away his identity, but it was obvious in every way that the woman was Amity’s mother.

She was slightly shorter than her husband, and her green hair was pulled back into a tight, meticulous bun. It was a lighter green than Edric or Emira’s, and if it weren’t for Amity’s brown roots that exposed her as a natural brunette Luz might have thought this was where she got her colour from. The woman’s cheekbones were identical to her younger daughter’s, and the superior expression on her face was the exact one Amity used to wear when Luz had first met her.

"Letting your creations know who’s in charge is an important skill to learn," the man continued. "Show them your power, and they’ll fall in line."

He gestured behind the two girls, and they turned again to see the purple stream bubbling away and disappearing. Even the Abomination’s legs that had been left on the stairs were fizzing and disintegrating.

Amity frowned at the vanishing substance and looked back her parents. "That wasn’t my-"

Her father raised an eyebrow at the sound of disagreement, and Amity stopped what she was saying and nodded instead.

"Thanks, Dad."

During this exchange, Amity’s mother hadn’t taken her eyes off Luz. The human was starting to wilt a little under the witch's unwavering gaze and smiled back awkwardly. But the green-haired woman’s transfixed expression didn’t change.

"What are you both doing here?" Amity asked.

The woman finally tore her eyes away from Luz and looked at her daughter. "What Edric and Emira were saying made us worry about you," she simpered. "We wanted to make sure that you’re alright."

"I’m fine," Amity said, blinking her bleary eyes.

Her mother looked the witchling up and down for a moment before smiling. "Good. But you should really get more sleep."

Amity nodded again. "Yes, Mom."

"Also, you forgot your lunch again." The woman held out a little pink bag with bunny ears sticking out of it, the front flap embroidered with a winking rabbit face.

Amity’s cheeks went a little pink, and she quickly took the bag. "Thanks, Mom."

The woman’s eyes flicked back to Luz. "You must be the human student at Hexside."

Luz put on a wide smile, feeling suddenly released to join in the conversation. "That’s me! I’m Luz Noceda!"

"I am Alador Blight, my wife Odalia." Amity’s father gestured between them before giving his daughter a questioning look. "You didn’t tell us you knew the human, Amity."

Luz turned, surprised, but her friend didn’t meet her eyes.

"Yeah, I know her," Amity said, without expanding further.

"We’re friends," Luz added firmly, which prompted the other girl to give her a nervous glance. There was a brief moment where Odalia met Luz’s eyes again, her expression inscrutable. Then-

"That’s wonderful!" the woman smiled. "You must have lots of fascinating stories about the human realm."

"Yes, you should come to Blight Manor for dinner some time," Alador agreed.

"I’d love to!" Luz smiled back.

"Excellent. How does tonight sound?"

"Sounds great!" Luz glanced at Amity, who was watching the exchange with a look of helpless terror.

"Then we look forward to it." Odalia stepped forward and gave Amity a kiss on the forehead. "Have a lovely day, dear." Then Mr and Mrs Blight turned and started walking away from the school. Luz looked back to Amity, who seemed a little shell-shocked.

"Well," the witchling sighed. "I guess that’s happening."

She turned and started heading back into the school. Luz followed, but there was an awkward tension between the two girls.

"She always packs my lunch in this when I forget it," Amity lifted the bunny-bag. "She knows it embarrasses me." The witchling chuckled a little, but Luz didn’t return the smile, keeping her eyes on the ground.

"Amity… are you ashamed of me?"

"No! Absolutely not!" Amity said quickly. She sighed again and put a hand to her brow. "It’s not you, it’s them. I’m never really sure how they’re gonna react to things."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they were the ones who wanted me to stop being friends with Willow. They're trying to get me to do everything _they_ -"

Amity stopped, as if a thought had suddenly occurred to her. She turned back and looked at the spot where her parents had been stood.

"What is it?" Luz asked.

"When they were at Hexside," Amity said quietly, "my Dad was in the Abomination track."


	2. Chapter 2

Luz ran a hand over her slicked-back hair as she waited outside the manor’s front door, trying to flatten the last couple of stubborn tufts. She had changed as soon as she'd gotten home from school, taking the tuxedo jacket and shirt from her Grom outfit and a pair of matching black slacks from the 8-Ball costume she’d been saving for the next school dance. Something had told her that tonight wasn’t an occasion for fun outfit experimentation.

Eda had agreed to give her a ride to Blight Manor, but had been silent for the whole flight. Luz managed to deduce that her mentor attended Hexside at the same time as Amity’s parents, but as usual Eda was cryptic as to her history and had dropped Luz off some distance from the front gate of Blight Manor before flying away on her staff. Luz was just about to pull the bell again when the door opened before her; Amity looked out, now wearing the purple dress with the short puffy sleeves she’d worn to Grom, and smiled tiredly.

"Hi Luz," she said. "Come in."

The walls of the entrance hall were purple, and Luz could see through the doorways that led off it that the other rooms of the manor were painted in the same shade. A long blue rug ran the length of the hall, past a couple of stylish side tables. None of the furniture had the decorative teeth or tongues that were common in other homes on the Boiling Isles; it could almost be a human house, although perhaps a slightly haunted one.

Amity closed the front door and they started walking along the hall. "My mom’s not back yet and my dad is in his office," the witchling said, "so dinner will be in little while."

But Luz had stopped by one of the doorways and was pointing a finger through it. Amity came back from where she’d continued walking and looked in too.

Edric and Emira were sat on the floor of the living room, wearing their matching purple waistcoats and grey slacks and shorts, respectively. They both gave a friendly wave to Luz, their anxiety from earlier in the day now gone. But the human’s eyes and finger were fixed on the green-haired, yellow-jumpsuited baby they were playing with.

"Oh, that’s Ilanna," Amity said casually. But Luz was inconsolable.

"Ba…ba…baby Blight…" She fell to her knees. "Baby B-Blight… b-baby Blight..."

"Amity," Edric scolded. "Have you never told Luz about our adorable little sister?" He held up Ilanna, who smiled her single tooth and gave a happy little gurgle that made Luz whimper and clutch her chest. Edric put the baby down and she started to crawl towards the kneeling human.

"You should really be more open with people," Emira said, standing and coming over to the doorway. "Then you won’t have moments like… _this_." She gestured down to where Ilanna was grasping up towards Luz’s unusually round ears.

" _You’re so small_..." Luz was whispering desperately. " _Who did this to you?"_

Amity reached down and picked Illana up before she could stick an exploratory finger up Luz’s nose, while Emira helped the unresponsive human to her feet.

"Alright sweetie," the eldest sister said as she dragged her away. "Let’s get you out of the danger zone."

* * *

Luz had been taken to Amity’s room to recover, and when the witchling came in a few minutes later the human was sat up on her bed, and fixed her friend with a furious glare.

"How DARE you keep that from me," she seethed.

Amity giggled. "I’m sorry, I don't really think about bringing her up."

She went over sat by Luz, but the other girl was still looking away, her arms folded over her suit jacket.

Amity frowned. "Are you actually upset?"

Luz sighed. "I thought I’d gotten to know the real you, but you’re still keeping all these secrets."

The witchling lowered her eyes. "It’s hard when you have different people you need to keep happy."

"But do you really feel like you have to hide part of yourself from me?" Luz asked.

Amity looked into the other girl’s face, which held a pained expression, not knowing how to respond. She looked down again, and moved her hand towards the human’s.

"I-"

Then she shrieked with fright as the bedroom door opened. They both looked over to see Edric standing in the doorway, looking incredibly offended.

"I’m just here to say Mom’s back," he said indignantly. "Dinner will be ready soon."

Amity took a deep breath and nodded, running her hands over her tired eyes. "Thanks."

Edric shook his head. "Great, now I feel bad about myself," he muttered before walking off.

* * *

Luz sat at the Blight dining table next to Amity, opposite the twins. Alador was sat at one end and Odalia at the other, the woman holding Ilanna in her lap and feeding her from a plate of blue mush. The others were all spooning soup into their mouths.

"I hope it’s to your liking, Luz," Alador said. "It must have been hard to get used to the cuisine of this realm."

"I like trying new things!" Luz replied cheerily, swallowing another spoonful before her brain could identify the floating bits of viscera on its surface. "Amity says you were in the Abomination track at Hexside, is that the coven you’re in?"

"Yes," Alador replied. "The Blight family own the biggest Abomination plant on the isles. I also do some consulting work on new recipes and formulas."

"You must have every volume ever written on the subject in that study of yours," Odalia said as she tried to persuade Ilanna to take another mouthful.

"Yeah, you really hoard books in there," Emira teased. "And you tell us _we’re_ untidy."

"Emira, room," Alador said as he took another spoonful of soup.

It hadn’t been said like a rebuke, simply an instruction. But the female twin immediately stood up without protest and obediently walked out of the dining hall. Luz watched the normally brazen girl leave, stunned, and glanced at Amity and Edric; she felt a chill to see them continuing with their soup as if the subservient moment had been the most normal thing in the world.

"So Luz, what do your family do in the human realm?" Odalia asked.

"W-Well..." Luz stammered, suddenly feeling a little more vulnerable. "My mom works in a hospital, and I’ve got an uncle in Santa Domingo who’s a banker."

Odalia nodded. "¿Lo ves a menudo?’" she asked.

The shock of hearing the Spanish words coming from Odalia’s mouth made Luz drop her spoon on the table with a clatter. She stared at the green-haired witch, who was waiting patiently for a reply. Luz desperately wanted to ask how, and where, and _how_ , but something in Odalia’s silver eyes made it seem like this was a test.

"...No, not really," Luz replied, and picked up her spoon again.

"That’s a shame," Odalia said. "Family bonds are important."

Luz nodded and looked back down at her bowl. She suddenly felt under the same spell that was keeping Amity and Edric silent.

The rest of the meal passed with idle chit-chat about school; Luz wasn’t able to pluck up the courage to ask any of the many questions she’d come prepared with, about baby Amity and the genetics of dominant hair colour alleles. She’d faced monsters and Emperors, but could now see what her friend had meant about how paralysing it was to be so utterly uncertain of what would come out of the two adult's mouths next. After a dessert of something jelly-like that Luz had tried not to notice scooping itself helpfully onto her spoon, Odalia went to put Ilanna to bed.

"I’ve got to finish up some work in my study," Alador announced as he stood. "Edric, go and tell your sister to start her celesta practice." He gave a nod to Luz, and she was unable to tell if it was a marker that the evening was over and she should leave, or a way of saying she was too far below him to even speak to any longer, or just a friendly nod. She waited until he and Edric had both left the room before she turned frantically to Amity.

"How does your mom know Spanish and what did they do to Emira and if your mom knows Spanish does that mean everyone on the Boiling Isles speaks English so how did THAT happen and oh my God I understand everything about you now it makes so much sense and _how does your mom know Spanish?!"_

Amity blinked at the barrage of questions and seemed to settle on the last one. "Is that what that was? I don’t know, she reads a lot."

Luz leant back in the dining chair, exhausted from holding her muscles taut throughout dinner. "The way your mom was looking at me, I didn’t know if I’d spilled something on my suit or if I was the next course. I’ve never felt more uncomfortable in my life. And the first time we met I was hiding in a cauldron of Abomination goop."

She laughed, as much to relieve tension as anything, but when she glanced back at Amity the witchling was looking down at the table.

"They’re my family," she said quietly.

"Oh, no, I didn’t mean-"

"You asked me why I keep parts of myself hidden. My parents are part of who I am. But I knew if you saw what they were like you'd get freaked out and wouldn't want to..."

Amity sniffed and stood, quickly walking out of the dining room.

"Amity, no, I’m sorry!" Luz stood and went to follow her, but when she went into the empty hall she was suddenly turned around by the maze of doors she’d been guided past on her way to the dining room. She guessed a direction and hurried down the corridor, glancing through the open doorways but unable to bring herself to open any of the closed ones in case another mind-altering surprise lay behind it.

She peeked through one that was ajar, and froze at the sight of Odalia sat in a chair holding Ilanna in her arms. She was about to quietly back away when the woman looked up at her.

"Luz, stay please."

Luz didn’t know what the consequences would be for disobedience so she remained where she was, nudging the door slightly more open. The room was a nursery with colourful runes decorating the walls, although the lights were currently dim and the grotesque-looking toys littering the floor were casting threatening shadows. A sound like tinkling bells playing a melody came from somewhere far off in the manor, adding to the eerie atmosphere. Odalia was gently rocking back and forth in the chair, trying to soothe the slightly squirming baby, and tilted her head back to listen to the distant music.

"Emira’s having one of her better days," she opened her eyes and looked over. "You should tell her how much she’s improved."

Luz realised Odalia was looking past her, turned her head and yelped when she saw Edric stood behind her.

The boy stared at her for a moment, before shaking his head incredulously and walking away.

"Sorry Ed!" Luz called after him guiltily, before peering back into the nursery.

"You seem a little tense," Odalia said. "I hope I didn’t frighten you at dinner. I’ve always had an interest in human culture."

"Okay," Luz acknowledged. She wasn’t sure whether that made her feel better or not, especially considering the fixated stares the woman kept giving her. Ilanna grumbled and Odalia glanced down at her.

"What would you like, my darling?" she cooed. The baby chirped back and Odelia nodded as if in understanding. She stood from her chair and held out her arms to Luz. "Would you mind?"

The human hesitated before stepping forward into the nursery and carefully cradling her arms under Odalia’s as the woman passed Ilanna over. Once the baby was securely in place the unburdened witch walked over to open a chest in the corner.

"How long have you and Amity been friends?" she asked as she rummaged through its contents.

"Uh… it’s hard to say," Luz admitted. "There was a transition period." She looked down at the faintly wriggling baby in her arms and bobbed her up and down a little; the sense of wonder she’d been overwhelmed by earlier started to play at the edges of her mind again.

"The beginning of this semester?" Odalia suggested.

"Yeah, around then."

"I thought so. Ah, here we are." The green-haired woman lifted her hand out from the chest, holding a pacifier that looked like it had once been part of an animal. She returned to Luz and brought the item to Ilanna’s mouth, who hungrily chewed on it. Odalia stroked her fingers over the small patch of green hair on the baby’s scalp, letting Luz continue to absent-mindedly sway her in her arms.

"Amity works very hard at school, and we expect nothing less," the woman said. "But it can take a toll, and recently she’s seemed much happier."

Luz looked up, and recognised warmth in the woman’s smile for the first time.

"I’m glad she has a friend like you to help her," Odalia said, sincerely.

Luz smiled back, and they both gazed down as Ilanna’s eyes started to droop, her mouth still working on the pacifier.

"Mom…?"

The pair turned to see Amity stood in the doorway. Luz grinned happily; surely this was all the proof her friend needed to allay whatever doubts she’d been having. But the sight of her so relaxed with Amity’s mother seemed to be somehow terrifying the witchling.

And then they heard a roar.

A purple fist punched through the nursery wall opposite the door. Odalia shrieked with fright and Luz turned away, bending over Ilanna to shield the now-wailing baby from flying bits of plaster. After the spray had stopped she looked back again and saw the familiar monolith-headed Abomination tearing its way through the wall. Odalia frantically took Ilanna from Luz and they all dashed out of the room and down the corridor.

" _Alador!"_ Odalia screamed.

The bearded man darted out of a room, searching for the source of the commotion, and ran up to meet them.

"What experiments have you been running?!" Odalia asked him furiously.

"None, why? What’s happening?"

There was another smash as the Abomination tore out of the nursery. Alador’s eyes widened in shock.

"What in the Titan’s name-"

But he cut himself off when the Abomination started charging towards them, and leapt in front of the others. A black staff appeared in his hand with a flash, and he spun it to draw a glowing circle. Two smaller, grey Abominations rose out of rings on the ground and shouldered forward into the larger purple one, straining to keep it back.

Amity rushed up to her father and stood next to him, drawing her own circle with her finger. A third Abomination rose up to joined the others, and they started to push their opponent back. Both Blights kept their arms raised, pushing an invisible force out from their hands.

But then the taller Abomination’s purple body started to seep over those of the smaller ones, absorbing them into itself.

"Luz, get my mom and Ilanna out of here!" Amity yelled over her shoulder.

Luz nodded and ushered Odalia down the corridor.

Despite her cargo, Odalia was able to sprint down the maze of corners, and Luz struggled to keep up on her shorter human legs. They entered a stairwell and stopped as they saw Edric and Emira racing down the stairs.

"Big… big b-babomination…" Luz panted, trying to gesture to clarify. "Dadmity… pushing it… _oh boy..."_ She clutched the stitch in her chest under her suit jacket as she gasped for breath.

Odalia passed the still-crying baby to Edric. "Take your sister and stay out of sight," she instructed. The twins both nodded and hurried upstairs again with Ilanna, while Odalia turned and ran back the way they’d come.

" _WaitMrsAmity’smom_ …" Luz wheezed, leaning on her knees. She managed to take a deep breath and started jogging after the witch-fast woman again.


	3. Chapter 3

Amity watched her father get smacked against the wall. She looked up at the now even taller monstrosity towering over her, the grimacing faces of her own now fully-absorbed creations gawping out from the rippling body. The creature's square, neckless head angled down at her and she crouched, ready to dive out of the way of the next swipe.

A green bolt of energy blasted over her head and through the Abomination’s torso. Amity turned and saw her mother running towards them, firing more magical bolts forward. She ducked down out of the way.

Each puncture in the purple body was quickly filled, liquid oozing around to fill the gaps, but the frequency of the volleys slowed the creature in its attempt to lumber forward. Odalia reached them and Alador leapt up, the pair standing protectively in front of their daughter. Odalia summoned her own white staff from thin air and the two witches slammed the bases of both onto the floor.

Glowing lines shone out across the floor and over the walls, and a net-like field appeared in front of them. The Blight parents pushed their free hands forward in unison, and the field moved towards the Abomination. At first the creature was pushed back a step, but it strained against the barrier - the glowing lines started to snap, and it forced its hand through. Amity saw her mother and father shared a confused, fearful look.

"Amity!"

The witchling turned and saw Luz reach her at a jog.

"Where’s Ilanna?" Amity asked.

"Ed and Em have her." The human gestured to the square-headed monster as she caught her breath. "Can’t you do your flamethrower thing like before?"

Amity gave the other girl an affronted look. "Luz, this is my _house_."

"Oh, right." Luz looked back over at the creature struggling against the field. "Has anyone called it a blockhead yet? Can I call dibs on that?"

The Abomination fully tore through the magical field, picked up a side table and flung it at them.

The two adults swept the girls through a doorway, and the table sailed past them down the hall. Alador and Odalia stood in the doorway in front of the children as the Blockhead stomped towards them, but Amity ducked under her parents’ arms and across the hall to the opposite doorway.

" _Amity you stupid girl!’"_ Alador raged.

"It’s after me!" Amity yelled back. She watched the purple giant stop between them and turn its head between the two doorways. She tensed, ready to run and draw it off.

But the Abomination turned to Luz and her parents, and started heading towards them.

 _"WHAT?!"_ Amity cried, aghast.

The three in the other room backed away, but the Blockhead reached down with both hands, putting one in front of the Blight parents and one in front of Luz, and flung them apart. Luz flew across the room and landed heavily on the floor, quickly scrabbling backwards as the creature loomed over her. For the first time, a mouth formed at the bottom of the square head, opening up a hollow cavity in the purple goop. The Blockhead inhaled a deep breath through it.

"GET _OOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUT!"_ it screamed at Luz. The force of the air coming out of the mouth whipped against the human’s face, and purple, viscous spittle coated her suit. When the creature had finished screaming, it lifted an arm to plunge down on her.

But glowing cords whipped around the upraised arm and pulled it back. Luz peered through the giant legs to Alador and Odelia wrangling the other end of the magically-summoned ropes.

Amity rushed in and pulled Luz to her feet. "Are you okay?" she asked, and Luz nodded.

"Both of you, run!" Alador shouted as the Blockhead turned on the spot to face the two adults.

"But Dad-!"

"NOW!" Amity’s father bellowed back at her.

"Come on!" Luz grabbed Amity's hand and pulled her out of the room, the witchling glancing back fearfully at her parents fending off the swipes of the giant attacking them.

* * *

The two girls ran down the hall, and when they’d gotten enough distance Luz pulled them through the nearest door, slamming it shut behind them. They both stood gasping for air, adrenalin keeping their hearts racing. Luz looked around at the room she’d brought them into.

There was a desk and chair at the far end in front of a tall window, but there was no space for any other furniture; most of the floor was hidden under piles and piles of books, and it took Luz a moment to even differentiate the bookcases lining the walls from the tall stacks in front of them. There didn’t seem to be any system of organisation by size or appearance; untouched, dust-covered volumes were mixed in with worn, ratty-looking covers.

"This is my Dad’s office," Amity panted.

"Oh." Luz raised her eyebrows. "He really _is_ a book hoarder."

Amity sighed, then sunk down to the floor, leaning against the door. ‘What are we gonna do?’

Luz sat down next to her. "Okay, let’s think about this. That thing definitely went after you at the lake. But just now it went after me. So it’s like it started coming after you, but it’s changed its mind?"

She looked over at Amity, but the other girl kept silent. Luz guessed that she was just worried about her parents and kept theorising aloud.

"When we saw it in school today it came after both of us, or maybe that’s just because we stayed together. But then yesterday at Azura Book Club it left after…" Luz's eyes widened in realisation. "It wasn’t after either of us then. It was your _picture_!"

"My picture?" Amity frowned.

"Yeah! The picture of the two of us! And today I’m your house and it told me to get out! It’s not that it wants one of us – it doesn’t want us to be _together_!"

Amity nodded. Then she appeared to realise this was new information, and put on a surprised expression. "Oh, wow! Yeah, that must be it. That makes sense."

"...And it’s an Abomination," Luz continued, moving past the puzzling reaction. "So there has to be someone summoning it."

"I thought it might be my Dad," Amity said, ‘but he was just as surprised as us. And he'd have _never_ have let it anywhere near Ilanna. My parents tried a home security spell which is supposed to repel intruders and it didn’t work, so the spell thought it _wasn’t_ an intruder, and Ed and Em don’t do Abominations, so that just leaves…" Amity leant her head back against the door with a frustrated sigh as she realised that there was only one Blight capable of making such a creature who had been there every time it had appeared, and came to the only logical conclusion.

"The baby," Luz nodded.

Amity frowned at the human. "No Luz, _me_."

"Oh!" Luz frowned too. "Okay, then stop."

"I’m not doing it on _purpose_!" Amity threw her hands up exasperatedly.

"Well," the human considered, looking around the room, "we’ve got a whole bunch of Abomination books here, maybe they can tell us something."

"We can’t read all of them."

"No, but if you’re summoning one without realising it, there might be a book about subconscious stuff." Luz stood and started running a finger down the spines of one of the stacks. "Viscosity… Anatomy… Proper Froth-Care… come on Amity, give me a hand."

The two girls scanned the titles of as many books as they could, flicking through the ones that seemed to be related to brains, although most of those were about which types to use in a recipe.

"Wait, here’s something," Luz said as she flipped over a page. "' _Subliminal programming of an Abomination: during times of stress, a witch may find their Abomination reflecting innermost thoughts or insecurities, and the effects will be equal to that which is within_.'"

"' _Equal to that which is within_ …'" Amity repeated nervously. "But if that’s my Abomination, it’s so big… I’m not _that_ insecure, am I?"

"H-Hey look at this, your dad has little griffin bookmarks," Luz commented, avoiding the other girl’s eyes. "That's, uh.. that's fun."

After a tense pause the book was yanked huffily out of the human’s grasp.

"Let’s just find out how to stop it," Amity sighed as she ran her finger down the page. "' _The thought being repressed must be confronted before the Abomination will come back under the witch’s control_.' But I _was_ confronting it, I was trying to ask-"

Amity quickly stopped herself and frustratedly dropped the book back on the stack they’d found it in.

"Amity," Luz said quietly. "If the Abomination has been trying to keep us apart, then does that mean you _want_ us to be apart?"

Amity looked down, confused. "No, that… that can’t be it."

The two girls were silent.

* * *

_Arm hurt. Why arm hurt?_

The Blockhead had been stomping toward the brown one, but had felt a sting in its arm as it lifted it up again for another swipe. It twisted around and peered through the murky haze that made up its vision. Through the purple fog it could make out a glowing cord lassoed around its arm, and the green one was holding the other end. She was pulling it tight, squeezing the loop against the Abomination’s arm, trying to cleave through it.

The Blockhead snarled and yanked its arm to the side. The green one was tugged with it, and flew past to fall to the ground next to the brown one. The semi-intelligent creature looked down at both figures; it knew them, somehow. But they were normally big and scary. Not now. Now they were small. It raised its arm again to strike.

"Hey!"

The Abomination turned at the sound of the voice, and the sight it saw made it ripple with fury; the shorter brown one and the shorter green one were stood further down the hall. The shorter brown one held up her hand, which was clutching the shorter green one’s.

"Look at how good friends we are!" she yelled. "We’re friends just so much!"

The Blockhead roared in anger and stampeded towards them. It had to get them apart, before the other two saw. Its short targets turned and ran, darting through doorways but the Blockhead followed; it knew this place too. The last doorway it charged through brought darkness and cold and the purple giant swivelled around trying to find its prey again, unable to make out anything in the gloom.

"Now!"

There was a flash all around as a funnel of flame erupted up from under its feet. The sudden light illuminated the shorter brown one as she leapt back from where she’d been crouched by the edge of the ring in the grass. The Blockhead thrashed, its body beginning to melt away.

And then its square head started to split in two.

* * *

Amity stared at the dissipating creature, and at the two shapes that were forming as its angular top dripped away. A pair of heads were being revealed, as if hidden beneath the purple block’s outer layer. As they took a more defined shape, she felt a surge of horror as she recognised the faces of her parents, their purple glutinous visages screaming in fury. They snarled between the flames, but soon the whole creature collapsed into thick liquid, covered the flaming ring and putting out the fire with a hiss.

She kept staring forward, her eyes adjusting to the gloom again now that the light of the flames had gone. She glanced nervously over to Luz; the human’s expression confirmed that she’d seen the faces too.

"So…" Luz said slowly. "Therapy, yeah?"

They both turned as the back door to the manor opened; Alador and Odalia looked out at the two girls, and at the bubbling purple stream that was seeping across the grounds over the wide fire glyph that had been scorched into the grass. Amity felt a surge of panic as she tried to read their expressions through the dim light, but then she heard whooping cheers coming from above. She and Luz both looked up to see Edric and Emira stood in the window, Edric clapping while Emira held Illanna. Amity turned to Luz and couldn’t help but give an exhausted laugh before they both went inside.

* * *

Luz had tried to avoid eye contact with the Blight parents while they all put the various bits of furniture back together and in place. She couldn’t actually think a train of logic that could make this her fault, but still tried not to draw any attention to herself. She was now pacing in the hall, waiting for a chance to draw Amity aside before she left. She spotted Edric and Emira through a doorway, the female twin still holding a dozing Illana and came into the living room to join them.

"Is Amity going to be in trouble?" she asked, but the twins just gave each other an uncertain look and shrugged. Luz sighed and looked down at the sleeping baby, who seemed so peaceful. She wondered how long it would last.

"That was some ingenious work, Luz," Alador’s voice came from behind, and the human turned to see him entering the room. "I’ve seen glyphs like that in my research, but I never knew they could be so effective."

"Yeah, sorry about your grass," Luz said guiltily, but Alador waved her apology away.

"Easily fixed," he said, then turned to Emira. "And you’re doing much better with your celesta, you’re almost catching up to your brother." He reached out and gently took his youngest daughter from his eldest before leaving the room again.

Luz let out a breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding and chuckled tensely to the twins. Then she frowned, and looked closer at them.

"Wait," she said. "Your moles, they’re on the wrong…"

Edric and Emira glanced at each other and grinned. Then Emira reached back and _took off_ the thick braid from the back of her head and passed it to the other twin, who affixed it to the back of ‘his’ head. ‘Emira’ then swept the front of ‘her’ hair up into a quiff and winked a wing-lined eye before they both walked out. The now-unbraided twin removed their earrings and handed them to the braided one as they passed Amity coming through the doorway. The younger sibling noted the human’s shell-shocked expression.

"You okay? Luz?" she asked.

"What is a Blight," Luz asked quietly, "but a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, hidden behind a pair of amazing cheekbones?"

Amity gave an uncertain laugh and sat down heavily on a sofa. She looked exhausted.

"Are you gonna be alright?" Luz asked.

The other girl stared forward, apparently unsure. "I don’t know. But I think I know how to stop it from coming back."

* * *

The Blight parents were in the kitchen, cleaning up the last purple footprint with a scourging spell. Amity waited outside the open door for a moment and took a breath before she stepped in.

"Mom, Dad, I know where that Abomination came from," she said.

The two witches looked over, their faces as impenetrable as ever.

"It was me summoning it without meaning to because I’ve been anxious about something," Amity continued.

Alador nodded thoughtfully. "A subconscious manifestation would explain why it didn’t have a full form. But you’ll need to cope better with your schoolwork if it’s causing outbursts like this."

"It’s not schoolwork," Amity said. "And if I don’t tell you what it is then it’ll keep coming back. I was… nervous about you meeting Luz."

"I can’t imagine why," Odalia shook her head dismissively. "She’s a fascinating creature."

"Yes, and quite resourceful," Alador added. "I understand why you would want to learn the things she’s discovered."

"It’s not that," Amity interjected, and felt an instinctual surge of fear for having cut her parents off, but kept going. "I’m not just interested in Luz because she's a human, and I don’t just… want to be friends with her." Amity couldn’t meet their piercing gaze any longer and looked to the floor, but continued speaking determinedly. "I want more than that. I want to be with her, and date her, and maybe even one day have her be part of our family and I want that no matter what you say." She stopped the flurry of words, surprised at herself for having ended on such a defiant tone. The seconds passed agonisingly slowly; she realised how her Abomination must have felt as it had melted in the flames.

"Well, she seems like quite a good match," Odalia said.

Amity’s head whipped back up again in shock. To her utter astonishment, her parents looked only casually interested.

"She’s clearly strong, and very talented," Alador nodded.

"And quite unique," Odalia added. "No-one _else_ will be able to say they have a human in the family. It would open up a literal new world of connections."

Amity could barely believe what she was hearing. "So… you’re okay with it?"

"Of course, dear," Odalia smiled. "Although you might want to be asking that to her, because she looks a little surprised to me."

Realisation slowly, horrifically dawned on Amity and she turned around - Luz was stood in the kitchen doorway behind her, looking completely stunned.

Alador and Odalia tactfully headed out of the kitchen, leaving the two girls alone.

"I wanted to say goodbye before I left," Luz said guiltily.

"Right," Amity nodded.

"Uh... w-which human called Luz were you talking about exactly?"

Amity inhaled. "Give me a second." She opened a side door in the kitchen, stepped inside and closed it behind her. She heard Luz step up to it and knock softly.

"Are you going to come out of the cupboard, Amity?"

"I’m not planning on it, no." Amity sunk down to sit on the floor, facing away. She heard Luz sit too, leaning her back against the other side of the door.

"So the Abomination," the human’s voice came through. "That was basically how you were scared your parents were going to react when they found out about…" she trailed off.

"About my great big awkward embarrassing crush on you, yes." Amity finished, covering her face with her hands. Had Luz really just overheard her talking about _marriage?!_ "Did you never notice?"

"No! I’ve never had anyone – I mean the idea of someone like _you_ wanting to – you’re just so cool, and I only said that stuff about secrets because I want to get to know you more and be closer to you and I always feel like I want to impress you, and... Oh."

Amity’s heart suddenly leapt into her mouth. "Oh?" she asked, hopefully.

" _Oh."_ Luz confirmed.

Amity slowly got to her feet and opened the door. The human girl was now stood too; her previously slicked-back hair was a now mess from the evening’s excitement and her suit was still stained with purple splotches. Luz shyly met the witchling’s eyes with an awkward, nervous smile. She was the most beautiful sight Amity had ever seen.

She looked down, unable to maintain the eye contact, and the two girls stood together for a long moment.

Then Luz took hold of Amity’s hand.

The witchling felt an involuntary grin and a hot burn spread across her face, and lifted her other hand to cover her mouth. She giggled uncontrollably as she tried to cover her cheeks, then her eyes, then her mouth again, unable to hide all her embarrassing reactions at once with her one free hand. She heard Luz giggling too, and didn’t dare look at her.

But she kept a tight hold of the human’s hand.

* * *

Emperor Belos stroked a finger over his mask, tracing the cracks that now spread down over his right eye. He had considered making repairs to it, but he’d noticed the members of his coven acting more intimidated around him since the human had pierced his armour. He’d supposed that his glowing blue eye blazing out of the broken metal gave him a slightly unhinged appearance, and covering the damage might seem like trying to hide a weakness, so he was happy to keep things as they were.

The door to his throne room opened and his operative walked in, striding up to the throne and kneeling before it.

"I see you have something to report," Belos intoned. "Can I take it that your attempt to get a foothold in the door of the Owl House was successful?"

The figure reached a hand up, removed their owl-faced mask, and smiled up at the Emperor.

"Yes," Odalia said. "In fact, it went far better than we ever could have hoped."


End file.
